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Celebrating 10 Years of Girlstart in North Texas: Unleashing Girls’ STEM Potential

Can you believe it? Girlstart is celebrating an incredible milestone—our 10th anniversary in North Texas! 🎉 It’s been an amazing decade of empowering girls, nurturing their curiosity, and unleashing their limitless potential in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Since we expanded to North Texas in 2013, Girlstart has served more than 6,000 girls and their families through our After School, Summer Camp, and Community STEM programs. Let’s take a journey through the transformative years and exciting accomplishments that have shaped our presence in this vibrant region.

Expanding to North Texas 2013

Back in 2013, Girlstart embarked on an exciting mission to bring our innovative STEM programs to North Texas. We recognized the untapped potential in the region, and we were determined to provide opportunities for girls to ignite their passion for all things STEM. With a range of engaging programs designed to inspire curiosity in every girl, from After School to Summer Camp, we set off on a journey of discovery together!

“When we started our programming in Dallas, I would drive materials from our Austin office to our STEM CREW each semester. We once had a STEM CREW who had to keep her Girlstart materials under her lofted dorm room bed! From adding schools to new districts to expanding university partnerships, Girlstart has had significant growth over the past 10 years. I am so proud of all the work we’ve done and I’m looking forward to what the future holds!” – Katelyn Wamsted, Girlstart’s Chief Program Officer

Opening Our Office in 2017

Fast forward to 2017, when we proudly established our very own office space. With the launch and growth of our programming in North Texas, we paved the way for budding scientists, curious engineers, tech-savvy innovators, and future mathematicians—and provided opportunities for girls to explore their passions without limitations and embrace their potential as STEM superstars!

Girls in STEM Conference 2023: A Celebration of Brilliance

Earlier this year, we proudly hosted our first Girls in STEM Conference in North Texas, where 142 girls had the opportunity to attend unique workshops led by professional women in STEM. This STEM-tastic event brought together girls from all across North Texas, where they connected with like-minded peers, learned from women in STEM in industries like cosmetics and aerospace engineering, and participated in hands-on workshops designed to spark their curiosity about STEM.

“Girls in STEM made me feel more confident in math and science.” – Haleigh, 5th grader

Not only did we host our inaugural North Texas Girls in STEM Conference, but we also served many girls through our After School and Summer Camp programs. During the 2022-2023 school year, almost 450 girls across 4 school districts and 15 schools participated in After School in North Texas—for free. Girls in our After School program practiced the Engineering Design Process, explored zoology, learned about renewable and nonrenewable resources, coded an Ozobot to perform cool tricks, and more!

“Girlstart After School has inspired me to not give up and work at the things I love!” – Kelanie, 4th grader

This summer, we held four weeks of Summer Camp in North Texas, impacting almost 100 girls. Campers explored the STEM concepts that veterinarians use to keep your favorite animal healthy. From cat genetics to animal prosthetics to stuffed animal sutures, our girls had an eventful week discovering “STEM is everywhere.”

“Girlstart Summer Camp inspired me to be brave, not give up on my projects, and learn from my mistakes!” – Mia, 5th grader

Girlstart Summer Camp

Fueling the Flame: Our Dedicated Staff

None of our achievements in North Texas would have been possible without the dedication and passion of our incredible team. We are proud to have six full-time staff members in North Texas who are committed to making a lasting impact on the lives of the girls we serve. From our Executive Director Shane Woods to our North Texas Program Assistant Jaylynn Jolley, these passionate women work tirelessly to create engaging programs, guide our girls toward success, and provide the mentorship and support they need to flourish in their STEM journeys.

“I truly wish I had this opportunity when I was younger. Working as an intern and now as a coordinator, it’s been amazing to see Girlstart’s impact. My favorite thing is seeing everyone grow—from witnessing our interns begin their careers to watching the girls discover the wonders of STEM and gain confidence in themselves.” – Morgan Stinnett, Girlstart’s North Texas Senior Program Coordinator

Supercharging Our Mission with a Partnership

We believe in the power of collaboration, and nothing exemplifies that more than our partnership with Dallas Afterschool. This invaluable collaboration has helped us enhance the standards of our programs, ensuring that every girl in North Texas receives the highest quality STEM education, and provides professional development opportunities for our program staff. Together, we’re breaking barriers, redefining what’s possible, and shaping a future where girls are at the forefront of technological innovation and scientific discovery.

“I’m really thankful for my time at Girlstart. I’ve seen firsthand how it empowers young women, and I think the program should exist everywhere!” – Emily Armstrong, North Texas STEM CREW

Looking Ahead: A Future Filled with STEM Excellence

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary in North Texas, we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for Girlstart in this region. We will continue nurturing the next generation of STEM leaders, creating opportunities for girls to explore their passions and challenge societal norms. We envision a future where every girl has the confidence, knowledge, and support to pursue her dreams relentlessly, fearlessly, and unapologetically.

Join us as we celebrate a decade of empowerment and STEM excellence in North Texas. Together, we can change the world—one brilliant mind at a time!

North Texas Giving Day

Before you leave, we invite you to support us for North Texas Giving Day! Your gift of any size during NTX Giving Day will support and sustain Girlstart as we continue our After School programs in North Texas. With your help, we can reach even more girls and double our impact over the next 10 years. Give today!

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From sea to galaxy: exploring Girlstart’s 2023 summer camps

Written by Lily Prath

That’s a wrap on 2023 Girlstart Summer Camp!

This summer, over 800 4th-8th grade girls were introduced to the wonderful world of STEM, with 37 camps taking place across 22 locations and six states. From exploring the depths of the oceans to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, this summer we offered a total of five unique camp themes; Keep Girlstart Weird, Girlstart Galaxy, Under the Sea, Scrub In, and Pet Vet.

As Girlstart’s Summer Communications Intern in Austin, I had a front row seat to most of these camps!

Campers started each morning with intention as they mapped out the day and practiced various social and emotional skills, including bravery, empathy, perseverance, and kindness. They got to know their fellow campers and our STEM CREW program leaders, who guided them through exciting and challenging activities related to the camp theme. Participants also heard from amazing women in STEM guest speakers who shared about their current career and how they got there. Each week ended with campers setting goals for themselves as they work toward their future career!

Here are some highlights from each camp:

The first Central Texas camp theme was Keep Girlstart Weird. In this Austin-inspired camp, participants explored the things that make Austin unique—including its music scene—as they engineered an outdoor music stage. Campers even designed a conductive piano by learning about coding and engineering. To celebrate the amazing food we have in Austin, participants designed a functional solar-powered mini food truck! The Austin adventure continued with campers programming robots to race along a track to win a Formula 1 race. At the end of the week, Keep Austin Beautiful visited and taught the girls about keeping their city clean and safe.

In Girlstart Galaxy, participants explored the International Space Station through an interactive Virtual Reality landscape. They also got to engineer and build devices to help spacecraft launch and land. To learn about what it takes to operate the space station, the campers experimented with collecting planetary core samples and cultivating crops in containers meant to sustain their growth. Campers also heard from a Mars geochemist from NASA, who drove in from Houston just to speak with them.

“Summer 2023 was truly one to remember, and I’m so grateful to all of Girlstart’s wonderful counselors, parents, and campers for making this a summer full of STEM fun!” – Hannah Winkler, Girlstart’s Strategic Projects Manager

Leaving the solar system for the depths of our seas and oceans, Under the Sea was all about marine biology! Starting in shallow waters, participants created a model tide pool and explored how gravity affects Earth’s ocean. Next they learned about endangered sea turtles and designed a cage to protect tiny turtle hatchlings. Other activities included engineering an ocean-cleaning robot, creating a dolphin prosthetic, and coding a game centered around marine life. A major highlight was hearing directly from women currently aboard the Nautilus vessel in the Pacific Ocean, who are conducting explorations of the sea floor.

Doctor’s orders: At our last camp in Central Texas, participants had the chance to “Scrub In” for a week of fun activities highlighting medical careers. They practiced suturing cuts on stuffed animals and diagnosing bacteria cultures. They investigated the heart and the complex blood it pumps, creating a model of both. Exploring both anatomy and engineering, girls created and played an operation-style board game, created a functional, life-size prosthetic device for a leg, and made a scalable 3D cell on Tinkercad.

Our camps in Texas, California, Massachusetts, Missouri, Washington, and Wisconsin focused on veterinary science. Pet Vet campers channeled their inner veterinarian as they sutured a ‘hurt’ stuffed animal, 3D modeled a unique animal shelter, and learned to code a robotic pet’s journey to the vet’s office using ozobots. From investigating cat genetics to examining fish tank environments to building a prosthetic limb for an injured pet, girls explored helping furry friends big and small. They also discovered different careers and learned about amazing women in STEM who have paved the way, such as Rosa Smith Eigenmann, the first woman ichthyologist (marine biologist who studies fish) in the U.S.

This is just some of the feedback we received from our campers and their parents:

“Girlstart Summer Camp has inspired me to want to do STEM when I grow up.” – Alana, 6th Grader

“At Girlstart I learned that even though I am a girl, I can get any job that I set my mind to.” – Molly, 5th Grader

“Girlstart began the week immediately following summer school and, hands down, the Girlstart program was 100 times better than the classes our school district offers. My daughter was so excited to share and demonstrate what she learned each day when she came home. Having an all-girls environment was powerful too.” – Girlstart Parent

We appreciate everyone who brought camp to life so vibrantly, especially our incredible guest speakers, STEM CREW camp counselors, program staff, and funders. See you next summer!

About the author: We want to say a special thank you to our Summer Communications Intern Lily Prath, who wrote this blog post and captured photos and videos at our Central Texas camps. She enjoyed getting to engage with the girls each week, and looks forward to attending ASU this fall!

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Shane’s Lane – Striding into year two at Girlstart ✨

As I write this second edition of Shane’s Lane, I am celebrating my one-year anniversary at Girlstart—and can’t help but look back on a year filled with hugs, smiles, hard decisions, transitions, welcoming new hires, and so much more. There are days when I have conversations that feel like I’ve been at Girlstart for years, but then I get asked how long I have served as executive director and I realize…it’s been the quickest twelve months ever!

The three overarching goals I’ve been working towards with my team have been empowering more girls to pursue STEM, increasing Girlstart’s visibility, and dreaming big to strengthen our future.

Empowering Girls: When asked what sets us apart from other girl-serving organizations, I proudly answer that our secret sauce is that Girlstart makes STEM fun, engaging, relevant, and not intimidating. The Girlstart ecosystem offers a wide breadth of curriculum and learning opportunities for elementary and middle school girls, as well as the young people working toward STEM careers, who serve as our STEM CREW program leaders. Over the past year, I’ve hosted visitors at showcases for our After School programs, where girls have learned about everything from electrical engineering and circuitry to video game design and coding, and seen STEM CREW make memories with our youth at Summer Camp (which holds a special place in my heart). I also got to attend our first-ever Girls in STEM Conference in North Texas (pictured below), where we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary of programming!

Increasing Visibility: Girlstart is emerging as a sought-after voice in important local and national conversations. We’ve been welcomed as a new member of the STEMM Opportunity Alliance, a White House initiative to develop a national strategy for achieving equity in STEMM, and participated in Texas Girls in STEM Day at UT Dallas thanks to State Representative Rhetta Bowers. I’ve also had the privilege of taking part in many guest speaking opportunities, ranging from an interview with the Weather Channel to a panel conversation organized by Charity Navigator. The growth in Girlstart’s visibility is also because of dynamic and dedicated volunteer leaders who help us build our networks. To support this, we’ve relaunched our Regional Councils and welcome supporters who are excited to advocate for us in North Texas, Houston, Central Texas, the East Coast, and the West Coast. If you’d like to learn more about joining Regional Councils, please email Liz@girlstart.org.

Girlstart staff with State Representative Rhetta Bowers at Texas Girls in STEM Day at UT Dallas

Dreaming Big: A recent report by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that the average American elementary classroom devotes less than 20 minutes per day to science, making our out-of-school, in-depth STEM programming more vital than ever. With too many students lacking access to quality science instruction, the current science education reality in this country requires solutions like what Girlstart can offer. This year is a strategic planning year for Girlstart, meaning that we are creating goals for the next three years and defining smart growth and how to amplify our presence and impact. Pro-bono experts are working with us to identify new income channels and strengthen our financial stability. Other conversations with our staff and National Board of Directors are focused around refining our mission and vision statements and organizational values, as well as capitalizing on our competitive advantage.

Girlstart is a truly special place to work and this year members of our staff purchased their first homes, traveled to exciting destinations, welcomed new family members, and more, all while doing this amazing work. I recently got to experience a huge milestone of my own as I saw my daughter Raegan graduate from Texas Woman’s University with a degree in Psychology. She is one step closer to entering the STEM workforce and heads to graduate school in the fall to study Human Centered Design and Engineering.

I’m so thankful I get to come to work every day and inspire young girls to pursue STEM—especially those who don’t yet know that STEM is for them. I look forward to another year as your executive director and continuing this mission of empowerment together!

Sincerely,

Shane Woods,
Executive Director

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STEM Extravaganza

This February, Girlstart hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed STEM Extravaganza event at the Girlstart STEM Center in Austin, TX. We had 17 volunteers come out and help make this community event a success.

Volunteers led hands-on activity booths, such as designing heart-shaped bubble wands, constructing a gummy heart dome, and creating an LED valentine. Throughout the event, attendees were able to learn about how those activities could translate into actual careers in STEM!

We are so grateful for the time and effort our volunteers put into this event! With their help, Girlstart continues to further our mission of increasing young girls’ interest in STEM!

Sign up to volunteer at our next event HERE.

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